Sex and Stuff

Similar to my previous blog about crime and punishment comes the topic of sex and stuff. Here in the Netherlands, there are very few teenage pregnancies (teenage being age 15-19). The rate is 8.7 per 1,000 inhabitants. You've probably already guessed where I'm going with this. The rate in the US? 79.8 per 1,000 inhabitants!!! That number really shocked me and I had to triple check it. It is correct though. The US has the highest teenage pregnancy rate of the developed world. As a result of this, we also have one of the highest rates of abortion. The US's rate is actually eight times higher than the NL with a rate of 27.5 to 4.2 (per 1,000). The STD rate in the US is also five times higher than in the NL. An interesting fact, surveys have shown that teens in the US and in the NL start having sex at about the same age.

I first started thinking about this when I was at someone's house here. When I asked where one of the kids was, I was told he had stayed at his girlfriend's house. "Really?" I responded "and you know about that? Do her parents know about it?" Of course, was the answer. The next week we visited a high school and I asked one of the teachers about teenage pregnancy. She said in all of her years as a teacher, she could remember only one girl who was pregnant. I asked if there was sex education in their classrooms and there is. It is similar to ours (I think) in that it is taught in health class. However, all options are covered and discussed openly. Students are told where and how to get contraceptives (btw, the NL has one of the highest contraception use among youth in the world). Abstinence is rarely discussed. It's been awhile since I had a health class so this could've changed since my class. Also, I was in the south which I think varies from other parts of the country and from larger cities. Anyway, the same week I was talking with another girl who also mentioned staying at her boyfriend's. Again I said, "Really? and your parents know?" She went on to tell me quite a bit about this topic and it was all completely foreign to me. Last year when I brought my then boyfriend home with me (I was 27), we had to sleep in different rooms. In fact, I think that I could be 60 and would still have to sleep in separate rooms if I brought a boyfriend to my parents' house (love you mom and dad). It seems that the families here are much more open about a lot of topics that many Americans are afraid to approach. Why? Well, I'm going to have to bring up religion again. Like I said previously, people in the NL aren't as religious. I don't think they see premarital sex as a sin or as a bad thing but as a natural occurrence. They are more open about it, teenagers understand it and how to protect and prepare themselves for it. Religious groups here have very little influence on public policy. Nudity in magazines or on television is not an uncommon thing here. This was also interesting. If the US had the teenage pregnancy rates that the Netherlands have, with our current population, we would have about 657,000 fewer teenage pregnancies and 215 fewer abortions and save $921 million in public costs a year!

And the Most Frequently Asked Questions Are...

Since we've almost been here a month now, we've been asked a lot of questions. Here are the top three questions we get asked the most:

1) Is it true that Americans only get about two weeks for vacation? (Generally the Dutch get about 5-6 weeks...which is awesome!)
2) Who is going to win the election?
3) Do all Americans eat a lot of fast food?

The Anne Frank House

Today was my first trip to Amsterdam and my experience there was wonderful. We visited the Anne Frank house, the Van Gogh museum, enjoyed some fabulous food and walked around the city. I was very moved by the Anne Frank house. I remember reading the Diary of Anne Frank when I was in middle school...probably around age 13 or 14. At that age, I somewhat understood what the Holocaust was, but not enough to fully appreciate the book and not enough to comprehend what happened to Anne and her family. My favorite class in college was a class on the Holocaust, through literature and film. Hearing and reading stories first hand from survivors was very powerful for me and it increased my interest in the Holocaust. I have visited the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC many times and I've read everything there is to read there. However, there is definitely something about being in a location where an event took place. For years, you have an imaginary image of what a place looks like and then that location comes alive. I didn't realize that when you visit the Anne Frank house, you can walk through the entire house. You can see how small the living quarters were and you can hear her words being read to you as you walk through her room. It is a strange feeling. For me, not just the house came to life, but the entire story. I don't just see things when I'm in a place like this, but I sense feelings too (but I'm kinda weird like that). Anyway, the story is amazing. I get cabin fever when I'm stuck in the house for two days. I cannot imagine living in that little section of the house for two years! What patience, endurance, hope, and faith the family must have had. It really is uncomprehendable. Anne Frank died just two months before liberation after having survived those two years in hiding. It is truly a sad story. On the way out of the museum, I bought a copy of the diary. I'm sure that when I read it this time, I will be reading it with a completely different perspective. If you have not already read the diary (shame on you), then I suggest you do so!

It's Typical Dutch III

These ladies are dressed in the old-fashioned, typical Dutch outfits!

Less Crime & Less Punishment

In 2006, there were 17, 034 homicides in the United States. In the Netherlands, there were 140. Okay, okay. I know there are 300 million people in the US vs. 16 million in the Netherlands. I'll break it down a little more. In the city of Baltimore, MD (population of 640,000), there were 270 murders and in Rotterdam (pop. 589,000) 19 murders. Even Amsterdam, a city of over a million people, had 26 murders. Now, I just grabbed these numbers off of the internet but I have a feeling they're fairly accurate. Why is the crime in the US so much worse than in the NL? Let's look at the penalty for murder. In the US, we have the death penalty and we have life sentences. People who committ murder typically are put in prison for the remainder of their life. In the Netherlands, there is no death penalty and the most someone usually spends in prison for murder is 15 years...and that's the most! Wouldn't you think that a harsher punishment would stop people from committing crimes? Studies have actually shown that the punishment for a crime is not a deterrent at all. What is then? Gun control? From what I understand, the process for getting a gun here is pretty similar to the US. Also, guns are pretty easy to get if you "know the right people," especially with the port which brings in lots of shipments from all over the world.

Here are a few observations. 1) The society is very egalitarian. There are no extremely poor people in the Netherlands. There are very, very few homeless people here. In fact, I haven't seen one yet. In DC, I can't walk to work without seeing about five homeless people (and it's a ten minute walk). Everyone in NL has healthcare, children are 100% covered. So, there aren't those who are in great need for basic survival needs. Of course, with this comes very high taxes...that's a whole other topic. 2) Women with children don't work as much as in the US. Now I'm all for womens' rights and equality, etc. but I definitely think there is a great impact of having both parents working (or having a single mother). In NL, the majority of women with children work part-time and companies are set up to support this. There are very few daycares. Women are starting to work more and more though. In the US, crime skyrocketed following WWII when women started working. Obviously when kids are left alone without supervision, they will entertain themselves. So, the family structure seems to be more in tact here. 3) Liberal laws. The NL is very liberal with many things, their laws being one of them. They are famous for their prostitution and drug laws. Is there something to this? While I don't agree with prostitution, the system seems to work well here. It is controlled in one location and protected. There is very little crime in the Red Light District (remember, 26 murders in all of Amsterdam in a year). "The oldest profession" is going to continue. Maybe it's time to face it and deal with it. Same with some soft drugs perhaps. 4) Religion. The majority of the people in the NL do not attend church. I think religion can definitely be a great thing, but I think it can also perpetuate certain problems as well...yet another topic I could ramble on about. While many of the people in the NL may be spiritual, they are not religious and I think there is a significant difference. While many people think that having more religion will help lower crime rates, I think it may be the opposite in many cases. 5) Discrimination. Like I mentioned before, the NL is very liberal by US standards. They seem pretty accepting of all people. Gay marriage is legal here. There doesn't seem to be racial segregation as there often is in the US.

Well, I could go on and on but these are my observations in what I think could play a role in the low crime rate in the NL. Obviously, I can't solve our crime problems in a blog but it's interesting to ponder and get conversations started. I think this may actually influence my upcoming study that I'm starting this summer.

The End of Week Three?

Only a week left to go? Time is flying by. Our time in Hellevoetsluis was great! Thank you to everyone for all of your hard work in planning our time there. Our farewell party Friday night again brought fun and tears. The kids at the party took it upon themselves to start teaching me Dutch. Well, at first they were just trying to get me to say long words and then were laughing at me. So I had them go back to the beginning with the alphabet. I was surprised to learn that their alphabet song is to the same tune as ours (twinkle, twinkle little star). I wonder if it's the same in every country. Anyway, they were great teachers and I'm surprised at the number of words I've learned over the past few weeks. Last week someone accidentally said something to me in Dutch and I responded without realizing the language was different. Then we both realized what had happened and started laughing. The Dutch language is a very difficult one with two sounds that Americans don't use at all. I'm able to do one but no matter how hard I try I can't seem to pronounce the other. It is the sound the ui makes in Hellevoetsluis.

Yesterday we left Hellevoetsluis and landed in Rijnwoude, a small town near Leiden. Thankfully, the coordinators of the club we are visiting expected us to be exhausted and planned an easy schedule for yesterday and today. I slept ten hours last night! It was definitely needed. Today we went antique shopping in the Hague and I found a cute little coffee/tea set. We then had dinner at Hans and Jane's house. Hans was an excellent cook and we had a great time. Our schedule for the week looks great. Tomorrow I'm starting the day with a biking tour of the area and then I'm off to the High School in Leiden. The weather is back to cold again :(

Containers and More Containers

This morning we took a boat tour of Rotterdam. Rotterdam is the largest port in Europe and was the largest port in the world until 2004 when Shanghai outgrew it. The amount of goods that comes through here is unbelievable...more than 300 million metric tons. The ships ( about 30,000 a year) and barges (about 110,000 a year) are massive.

Tomatoes in Glasshouses

Today we visited a tomato Greenhouse, which they refer to as Glasshouse. There are glasshouses all throughout the Netherlands but there is a high concentration of them in this area. It is quite a complicated and interesting operation. I had no idea what all goes into getting produce into our grocery stores (kinda the feeling I had a flora holland about the process of flowers). The seeds are not put into soil, but into a kind of installation. The installation has water and nutrients put into it. The tomato vines are hooked to wires and grow up to about 10 meters high. Someone has to continuously watch over the plants. They wrap the new vine around the wire, they cut leaves from the vine, they make sure they are not damaged, someone checks the ripeness, etc. All of this is done by hand by about 40 people. There are also bees which help with pollination. This is just the growing part of it all. Then it has to all be weighed, measured, wrapped, and delivered. They sure make some great, juicy tomatoes!

I learned that almost all vegetables should not be put in the refrigerator. They should be kept at room temperature. This actually keeps the taste fresher.

On the Farm...

Yesterday we arrived in Hellevoetsluis, a fortress which used to be a marine harbor. I think we may have scared our new hosts because when we arrived we 1) were crying 2) had about 30 suitcases. Nonetheless, our hosts welcomed us with open arms. We had lunch and tea and then headed off to our new homes for the week. My hosts Monika and Gerat (hope I spelled that right) live on a farm that was built in 1805. The house is almost as old as the United States! The house is beautiful and very large. It is built in the old Dutch farm style with bricks, old tiles, and an attached barn. There is even a section which used to be the carriage house. Monika teaches German and Gerat is a cardiologist. Once again, they both speak several languages and are sure to be great hosts. Animal count: 3 and 3/4 cats (one has half a tale), 2 shetlon ponies, a goat, sheep, chickens, very loud early-rising roosters, an adorable little dog, and 6 humans. There is also a beautiful garden and a pool. The weather has been amazing and I was able to spend a couple of hours by the pool before heading to dinner!

The End of Week Two

Wow, week two flew by! We have been so busy. I have to say that each of us fell in love with Wassenaar and were sad to leave. Our program was great, the people were wonderful, and the experience unforgettable. There were definitely tears when we left. A shout out to John and Hans for all of their hardwork. The town of Wassenaar is definitely one of the wealthier sections of Holland and I felt a little bit like I was on Wisteria Lane. The houses were quite large and immaculate. The people all knew each other and the town felt very safe and cozy. I fell in love. My family was great...again. When Renee hopped out of her car and came running to me saying "I'm your mom for a week!" I knew I would love this family. Renee and I clicked within the first ten minutes and I felt like I'd known her all my life. Her husband Laurens is the current President of the Wassenaar Rotary Club. He is a historical restoration architect in the Hague (where he has a very historical and lovely office in what used to be a hidden church). The two of them together make a great pair. I was lucky in that their 25 year old son is currently living at home. He invited over some friends and it was great to talk with a group of younger people. It was interesting to see what kinds of questions they asked me about the US compared with what Rotarians asked. I managed to get Friday off and go sailing with one of their son's friends. It was such a great way to see the countryside...from the canals! The weather was perfect. We had a farewell BBQ Friday night and Saturday we're off to Hellevoetsluis for week three. I spent the first two weeks here trying to learn how to say the name of this town and I finally got it! There are several new sounds that our language does not have and they're hard to learn!

Parliament

Thursday we had a private tour of the Parliament building and met with a former Parliament member. The Dutch government system is very different from ours in that it is proportional representation. Each party receives their number of seats in Parliament based on the percentage of votes it receives. There are currently 10 different parties in Parliament! All of these parties would fall on our liberal side...even their most conservative ones. I asked how anything can get accomplished with so many parties. The parties form coalitions with other parties in which they promise to vote together on certain issues. The Prime Minister is chosen from the party which received the most votes. The Queen is also considered part of the Government and the Court is not included in they system. The whole thing was very interesting and would take a long time to write out...but that's an overview.

Dinner at the Beach

Dinner at the beach was soooo nice. The weather the past week has been unnatural (by Dutch standards). It hasn't rained in about 10 days and it has been around 20 degrees celcius. Just wonderful! I've even managed to get some sun.

Wassenaar Windmill

Thursday we visited the local working windmill and had a tour by the miller. The Netherlands has only about 30 or 40 working windmills still left. It was interesting to learn how the windmill actually works to produce flour. Also, we learned that windmills actually orginated in Afghanistan.

The Peace Palace and the International Court of Justice

Last Wednesday, I had a private tour of the Peace Palace and the International Court of Justice, which was awesome. The idea for a Peace Palace began back in 1899 with the first international peace conference, which was held in the Hague and was the first of the "Hague conventions." However, it wasn't until 1906 when construction on the Peace Palace began, funded by Andrew Carnegie. It officially opened in 1913. The Palace includes: the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the Peace Palace Library. I was very lucky to receive a tour from a security guard who works for the International Court of Justice. This was great because I didn't have to crowd in with 100 other tourists and I was able to see things I may not have otherwise seen. The palace is gorgeous! It has many different types of marble, lots of stained glass, and statues or other gifts from all countries. The United States gave a statue of Lady Liberty which is placed at the top of the main staircase. The International Court of Justice is the judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles conflicts between countries and also gives advice to countries when asked. The Great Hall of Justice is quite impressive. It is where the 15 judges sit to hear these cases. For example, a recent case was between Ecudador and Colombia regarding herbicides. I also visited the Peace Palace Library, which is the largest collection of international law books and publications. We then had tea and coffee (because that's just what you do here) and then went to the beautiful gardens. It was all very surreal. Why the Hague? No one could give me a definite answer except that the Netherlands has remained fairly neutral in all European conflicts. There is a peace flame which burns continuously outside of the palace as a symbol for world peace. It was really a great experience!

The End of Week One

It has now been a week since we have been here. It's nice to have three more weeks and not feel rushed to see everything as I often feel when on vacation. We're learning a lot and we're exhausted. Yesterday we switched cities, host families, and host clubs. We are now in Wassenaar. The club in Delft had a nice little farewell party for us and the new club picked welcomed us with great energy. To transport us here, they sent a van for our luggage and a separate car for us! ha! As soon as we arrived, we met our new families and then attendd a classical concert performed by young students from the conservatory. This morning we went to the Keukenoff, which is a huge garden with thousands of different types of flowers. We also visited some of the flower fields which are just amazing. Today is Memorial Day here which remembers those who died in World War II. We were asked to particpate in a cermony at the local memorial. We marched to the statue, had two minutes of silence, and then laid a wreath at the base of the statue. The mayor and several other prominent leaders in the city were there and a reception followed. Tomorrow is liberation day and a day of celebration.

We have had several vocational visits, which have all been very informative. I have visited two colleges so far and have learned a lot about the education system here, which is quite different than our system. Students choose an education path at the age of 12 (or maybe 14, I have it written down somewhere). I can't imagine knowing what subject I would like to study at such a young age. We also visited several homes for the elderly and learned a lot about the healthcare system here. Tomorrow we are going to a bioscience center and then to have high tea and then we have another presentation to give. There is very little free time...which leaves little time to blog. I'm off to bed but wanted to add a picture.

What day is it again?

Wow. There is so much going on that I can't remember what day it is. When I found out today is Wednesday, I was surprised. We've only been here three days? It feels like at least a week. We have had very busy and long days.

Monday morning, we went to the flower auction. When they told us we were going, I thought it would be kinda like a fish market. You know, with tons of flowers everywhere in bins and people bidding on them. No, not at all. The flower growers bring the flowers to the auction house and they are processed. They go through the cooling room, into the auction room where there is an auditorium of men waiting to buy them. There is an auction clock. They are all waiting on who will make the first bid. The person who makes the first bid pays the most, but the person who makes the last bid may not get any flowers. It's very interesting. It looks like the stock exchange in a way. Once the bidder has selected his batches of flowers, they are organized onto carts and placed in a holding room. The buyer often buys several different types of flowers and so their "train" of flowers is very colorful. The room is huge (like several football fields huge), American music is playing throughout the building. A lot of this is done electronically. It's neat to see huge crates of flowers moving around the floor by themselves. With the colors, the music, and the choreography of the trains of automated carts, it is like watching a ballet of flowers. I had no idea what all a flower goes through before it reaches its destination.

Monday night was our first presentation. There were some minor glitches, but overall it went well. The group was very friendly and asked us great questions. I've also had some very interesting conversations with several people. It has mainly been about the presidential election. They all want to know what we think and who we want to win, etc. They are excited about the change in our leadership and how it will help their country. They have a saying over here that says "When two dogs fight for a bone, a third one runs away with it." I found it very interesting when it was related to the election by one of them. There have been several comments that generalize Americans like "You all own three cars, " etc. but otherwise they generally seem to like Americans.

Today was Queen's Day which was the celebration for the royal family. It is supposed to celebrate the Queen's Birthday but she chooses to celebrate her mother's birthday because it's in a warmer month. However, while it may be warmer, it is not warm. Our first day brought great weather, but otherwise, it's been pretty cold and rainy. No wonder I'm sick. Anyway, last night was Queen's night eve and we went to The Hague for the festival. I have never seen anything like this. It was like Mardi Gras on speed. We walked and walked and there were still people in every direction. There was music, food, the smell of marijuana, and lots and lots of orange. The royal family is from the house of Orange and so everything is over the top in bright orange. Today was no different. There were the same things mentioned above plus lots of "flea markets." We walked around until around 3ish and then headed home to change. We had a house warming party to go to.

The house we went to was gorgeous and was along an old canal. We parked so close to the water that we were afraid the car would roll into it. You definintely want to make sure you use reverse when leaving! The older section of the house used to be a gin factory and was now an art gallery. It was very modern and everyone was very nice. Once again, their English is very good. In fact, the majority of the time I don't feel quite like I'm in Europe. It is very "Americanized"over here. There are so many American things (Domino's, Burger King, movies, radio music), that I feel like I'm in New Jersey (which is like a foreign country to me).

I have to comment about my host family again, Yet and Guus. Yet is the most amazing caretaker. I sneezed today and had a box of tissues on my bed. I came back from our afternoon trip and my shoes were lined up in a perfect row. The woman never stops! and Guus just keeps getting better and better. I found out last night that he is also an inventor. He showed me some of his inventions, which were great of course. We asked them to adopt us. They said sure.

Well, I haven't quite figured out how to upload pictures yet and I don't want to ask to install a program on their computer. I need to do it through our laptop which is currently not chargeable due to a plug in problem.

Okay, they are calling me with hot tea waiting (which means there is also some sort of cookie). I have never had so much tea in my entire life than in the past few days. Anytime I ask for water I get a weird look and then "coffee or tea?" Now I'm just saying tea to begin with. It's even hard to find water in stores!

K, I'm off for tea and some sort of yummy surprise!

Who needs to sleep? Let's shop.

We have arrived! The weather is wonderful, the people are great, the food is fanstastic, and I've already seen fields of tulips. Oh yeah, some sleep would be nice. It is almost 9pm here (3pm in the US) and we have not slept since the night before we left. I am too tired to calculate how many hours that is without sleeping, but it's a lot. I'm so tired that their English is actually better than mine right now.

We were greeted at the airport by the GSE coordinator for our Delft visit, Tawny (that's my English spelling of her name), and Marcel, the secretary of the GSE group. When they saw how much luggage we had with us, they asked for an additional person to help drive us. Four women and I believe 9 suitcases. Try fitting that into a Eurpeon elevator...it ain't happenin. I know I personally had 84 pounds of luggage. We'll see what happens on the way home.

We leave the airport (in three cars) and drive to Delft which is about 45 minutes from Amsterdam. Everything is much closer than i thought. The Netherlands is probably about the size of Connecticut. We drop of all of our luggage at Tawny's house. We get aquainted for awhile and rest (I slept for about 45 minutes). We head to the supermarket to pick up items for lunch. The supermarket was surprisingly the same as most of ours. The only thing is, it is obvious we are American. Tawny said I look the most American because I have long hair and big sunglasses. I'm not really sure what that means or if it's good or not. There's no hiding it. I'm a tourist.

Lunch is fresh bread, meat, cheese and fruit. Oh, and there is every type of juice you could possibly imagine. I recommend the mango juice. It's quite tasty. The cheese is AMAZING and at one point I had to request it be placed on the opposite side of the table from me. We also had some wonderful cookies that look like waffles and have syrup in the middle.

After lunch, we were off to the Delft porcelin factory. Delft is known worldwide for its wonderful pottery, tiles, and porcelin products. It was all very beautiful. Let me just say this. I took out Euros from the bank today and I believe most of it is already gone. Although, that may be more the value of the dollar right now than the price of what I bought. Either way, my sisters better like what they're getting. ;)

It's time to meet our first family for the week. Their house is absolutely adorable. It looks like it is out of a magazine. The walls are covered with paintings that our host, Guus, has painted. There are fresh flowers everywhere and the smell of something baking. We sit out in the back garden, which Guus has filled with tulips and other flowers, to get acquainted. We're offered an apple tart and again 10 choices of juice, coffee, tea, or wine. I'll tell you how tired I am. I did not have the glass of wine. I drank water. The wine would've knocked me out upon first sip. The weather was beautiful and I enjoyed talking with everyone. I'm extremely impressed at how great everyone's English is and how much they know about our country. I mean, I knew they could speak English well, but the extent of their vocabulary is very impressive. I can now say about 5 words in Dutch. One of them is cheese (kaas).

Dinner was an unbelievable meal. Let me tell ya, if I never eat a Lean Cuisine again, it'll be too soon. Here's what we had for dinner: meatball soup, lamb, potatoes, a delicious brown sauce of some sort, green beans, salad, and fresh fruit salad for dessert. This is one of the things I love most about Europe. The food is so fresh that the taste is magnified. Our hosts are awesome. They are 73 and have been married 46 years. Guus looks like Anthony Hopkins and is such a free spirit. He rides motorcycles (at 73!), travels, reads, writes, paints, gardens, cooks, and is so in love with his wife. It is so sweet. He tells me the secret to living to be old. "Keep your mind busy with the things you love. Oh, and a glass of red wine with dinner." By the end of dinner and my glass of wine, I'm once again starting to fall asleep sitting up. I decide it is far beyond time for bed. I decided to stop and write anyway..good thing I type quickly. I would upload a picture from today, but that would take away some sleeping time.

Tomorrow we are leaving very early for the flower auction, visiting the Delft Technical University, and giving our first presentation. I'm off to sleep...